Managing Minor Musculoskeletal Injuries and Conditions

David Bradley

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780470673102
• eBook ISBN: 9781118512821
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Nursing

Emergency care professionals are increasingly expected to work autonomously when caring for patients with minor musculoskeletal injuries and conditions. They have to be able to competently and safely take a patient's history, examine, diagnose and provide management of these conditions. Managing Minor Musculoskeletal Injuries and Conditions pulls together all these aspects of care into one practical, easy-to-read text.

Aimed principally at students undertaking minor injury and emergency care courses, this title is a comprehensive manual of minor musculoskeletal injuries and conditions, highly illustrated throughout and containing a variety of activities and exercises.

Key features:

• Includes material on study skills, distance and self-directed learning to support both students on formal courses and those working alone
• Extensive learning features, including a range of activities, hints and tips and multiple-choice questions
• Supported by a companion website with further self-assessment, downloadable X-ray PowerPoint slides, picture tutorials, practice history-taking documentation and legal scenarios
• Enables more effective management and care of patients with musculoskeletal injuries

Part 1

The background

1

How to use this book

Introduction

This book aims to bring together the diverse aspects of the management of minor musculoskeletal injuries and conditions. A number of texts already exist to cover subjects such as:

• anatomy and physiology
• history taking and physical examination
• minor musculoskeletal injuries
• minor musculoskeletal conditions
• patient documentation
• X-ray interpretation
• legalities and ethics.

Here I've brought several of these together into one volume for your convenience. No one can give you everything that you require, but it will provide a firm basis for your initial study and your further development.

The book

The format

The book uses a distance learning (DL) approach to study and is written in a friendly, encouraging and minimally academic tutorial style. For extra clarity, the text is supported by hundreds of illustrations. There is also a wide variety of ‘boxed activities’, which will test and deepen your understanding, providing you with added interest.

Associated with the book is a large and informative website, giving you free access to the following:

• Regional PowerPoint presentations of X-rays for interpretation.
• Multiple choice questions (MCQs) with detailed comments on answers.
• Documentation exercises.
• History taking scenarios.
• A clinical photo tutorial.
• Legal and ethical scenarios.

Who is the book designed for?

Senior nurses and paramedics are the main target groups, but A&E nurses, paramedics, school nurses, practice nurses and many physiotherapists will find a wealth of essential information, making the book a valuable resource.

How the book may be used

There are two ways of using it. Few standard texts are ever read cover to cover, or anything approaching that. So first, just pick and choose: you will find both the illustrations and the explanations clear and mostly at the level you require. If you do not need the boxed activities, just ignore them.

Second, use the book as a guide for independent organised study. To do this, start here and slowly work your way through the remainder of this chapter. Let my experience direct you to an activity, or onto our website, to have a rest or to gain clinical experience as you progress.

This approach is the next best thing to a full university ‘face-to-face’ programme and is based on my many years of experience running both diploma and degree courses.

You, the student

Organise yourself

To study to the best advantage, you have to make an initial agreement with yourself to try to complete the work in a given time and also to get into a habit of regular study.

The study habit can be difficult, because it ‘eats’ into your time (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Organise your study to fit your life; something has to go.

Making a flexible study plan is one of the better ways to start.

Each of the book's chapters would take you approximately a week of study. Note, this is not the time taken to read the book – anyone can do that in hours: it is the time when you are:

• reading text
• highlighting and making notes
• completing activities
• sampling clinical practice and receiving feedback
• using the book's specific website for tutorials
• reading suggested texts
• looking at suggested YouTube videos.

Try to avoid commencing study at times that are likely to be exceptionally stressful, such as Christmas, during overtime, when you are decorating, or perhaps when there is illness in the family. It will simply spoil your enjoyment.

Although not always practical, it is best to complete the basic examination skills for a particular region of the body before starting the next.

Record clinical accomplishments

In each of the regional chapters, there is a checklist for you to complete, or get your clinical mentor to sign to prove your competencies in this area. These tables are excellent as an aid to your memory, but also your clinical mentor can see at a glance which skills still need to be accomplished and can work towards your continuing professional development (CPD). Further information on CPD for paramedics may be found in Fellows (2008).

Let others know you are studying

Some students do not see the need to tell anyone about their self-directed study. So, if they are noticed ‘just’ reading this book, others will see no harm in asking them to do something else for them instead. They cannot understand a student's annoyance if they are not told they are studying. Studying on your own is almost impossible without the help of your family and friends. So let's make a ‘golden rule’:

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Golden Rule

Include others in your study plans, so that they understand what you are trying to achieve.

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When to study

No one can tell you the best way to study, or when – there are too many variables. However, I can give you some general rules students have found useful. Give them a trial and keep using them if you find them effective. Most of you don't have the luxury of choosing a time to study. More often than not it is a matter of fitting in with commitments. Try for regularity and what suits you.

Everyone reads and learns at a different rate. But never rush – I can skim read an article in minutes to update myself before a lecture, but one of my students could need about an ho...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• About the companion website
• Part 1: The background
• Part 2: The upper body
• Part 3: The lower body
• Answers to multiple choice questions
• Index